Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-04-08
YACHTING ON THE LAKE.
AN INTERVIEW WITH D. j. LAWlOR.
THE YACHT DESIGNER.
Lake Champlain rs "a Yachting Ground
His Opinion of Sharpie Yachts-Chat
About the "Burlington" and
sharpe Steam Yachts, Etc.

the guest of w. H. II. Murray for seyera
days. Mr.. Lawlor's visit to Burlington i
to make himself familiar with the condl
tions of yachting and yacht construction a
our port and to prepare to take possession
of the building house and begin the con
struction of his first yacht here, which h,
expects to do by Tuesday of next week
In personal appearance Mr.. Lawlor il
rather under medium size, wiry and aler
and impresses one as full of energy ant
inventiveness of mind. He looks like tn,
veteran that he is in one of the brainies
of professions. We should judge him tt
be about GO years of age, although in look
and motion he is as bright and quick as {
| boy. He greeted the reporter most cor
daily and after some preiminares touch
ing the commanding position Burlington
occupies on the lake, he was asked:
Mr.: Lawlor, what do you think of oui
lake ?'
at is a fine body of water sir, much
larger than | supposed. am very much
surprised at its extent and am confident
that our shore yachtsmen will bring theil
yachts here in large numbers when once
they realize the size and beauty of these
WaterSn
When did you build your first yacht,
Mr.. Lawlor ~
The first yacht ever built was in 1917.
Was then only % years old. I've been at
it ever since.
How many craft have you draughted,
Mr.. Lawlor %
cannot say, sir. have draughted too
many to remember all. | have daughted
lob steamers alone and as many fishing
boats, suppose. The pilot boats have
designed are strung along the coast from
Boston to New Orleans. | have designed
a great many yachts. The Chimera, that
was nearly 40 years ago, one of the old
timers, the Reindeer, the Olata the Sarah
II. Pryor, the John McManus the Julia
n. Whalem, the Sylvester Whalem, she
is the fastest fishing boat in the world
probably. She can beat the John Nc
Manus or the Roulette, which is another
of my children. The Sylvester Whalem is
the boat that syndicate has hired Bur
CESS to design one to beat and for certain
reasons they will give him any amount of
money to do it, Then you have heard of
the Gitana, l suppose, Mr.. William I.
Welds's schooner, with which he cruised
In the East two years ago. She is Is feet
over all, 20 feet and inches beam and
draws II feet of water, a fine deep sea
boat and some think as handsome Yacht
as floats, but need not enumerate more.
FORTY years of designing and building
turn out good many boats, young man,
II you, are kept steadily at it, as | have
been"
What model have you chiefly designedY"
"All kinds, sir, all kinds Ships, steam
ers, schooners cutters, sloops, steam
yachts and launches, cat boats, fishing
boats; everything but sharpies and my
friend Mr.. Murray here, has now got me
at them.
eve are glad he has, Mr.. Lawlor, and
we would like to know what you think of
them ?''
well, the Sharpe model is a very re
markable one in its characteristics. |
ing loft gossip. But l had never been
able to get the sight of real live Sharpe
before | was brought face to face with Mr..
Murray's Burlington , In fact, Il came
up for the express purpose of inspecting
her. had alwaysknown that the Sharpies
were speedy speedy enough to be barred
in great many of our shore regattas,
and | wanted to see for myself just where
their great speed came from"
lington :"
THE first thing that impressed me was
her strength. She is a very strongly built
boat indeed. The material of which she
put together as boat should be. Second
~, was surprised at the space that is
in her The Sharpe model is so much
roomier than any other that with it
there is no comparison. Why, the Bur.
lington has carrying capacity equal to
that of Il $4,000 yacht drafted on cutter
or sloop lines. Then thirdly, l was sur
prised at another thing. | had always
heard that a Sharpe was very fast but
a very unsafe boat. Why, sir, the lines
of the Burlington make her the safest
boat IN the world in inshore waters. |
can't say how she would work in mid At.
lantic, but in inland and shore waters she
civ, cla 4
be blown over or driven under, either"
lor ?"
"She has the largest possible construc.
tive stability, sir. She is broad, she is
deep and her centre of gravity lies lower
than in any other form of boat. Then
she is well balanced and the centre of
effort OF the sail area is very low down.
Why she must stand up in gale like
rock"
Lawlor ?"
Speedy, yes, but perhaps not as speedy
as she ought to be. Let me explain. 1t is
evident that Mr.. Murray's first aim was to
build strong. safe craft. The amount of
timber in her is enormous. There is an
overplus of 1t everywhere. Why, she is
twice as heavy as she might be and still
be strong boat. Now, in a fast boat,
boat built for speed only, all unnecessary
WelRuU suOulu ne kepI OUT OF ner. IlaU
is the theory. But in spite of the fact that
the Burlington Is Il very heavy boat,
nevertheless her lines are remarkably
speedy ones, and if her owners will only
give her the canvas she wants to show all
the speed that is in her design, and give
her captain that isn't afraid of wind and
understands her. | shouldn't be surprised
II good many prize cup boats even came
in later than she did in 20 miles race.
But we mean to build two or three Sharpe
yachts here this summer that will beat
her But they won't look very different
from what she does after all"
81 have heard it said that the Sharpe
rig did not allow enough canvas to be put
on boat to enable one to win in mod
ern race. What do you think of that, Mr..
Lawlor ~
well, some might think so, especially
those who know the Sharpe as it has
been / mean its old style rig. But Mr..
Murray submitted to me TO day his meth
cd of rigging the Sharpe and must say
that by 1t he gets on rs much canvas as
most shippers would like to stand under
and it is all well placed too that is, the
centre of effort of the whole mass is
where il ShOuld he | haya 6pnrad ont a